India
On January 13 it was announced that Continental AG has entered into an agreement with T-Systems (the enterprise customer division of Deutsche Telekom) and business process outsourcing provider Cognizant. The two companies will jointly provide application management services to the research and development operations of Continental’s tyre divisions in Hanover, Germany, beginning in 2009.
The eight-day truck driver’s strike in India has come to an end following the announcement of major governmental concessions. Following successful negotiations between the Indian government and representatives of the All-India Motors Transport Congress (AIMTC), it was agreed that the tax on tyres would be lifted along with a reduction in the price of diesel and the removal of a service tax.
Apollo Tyres and leading national automotive magazine Auto India have on January 8 held their “Apollo Tyres Auto India Best Brand Survey Awards”, recognising the merits of various Indian market two and four-wheel vehicle manufacturers. The recipients of the awards were decided upon based on questionnaires filled in and returned by approximately 1,072 Auto India and Business India readers. Award categories included, amongst others, “reliable”, “well-made product”, “good customer service and advanced technology”.
The government run business promotional organisation of India’s Tamil Nadu state is said to be in the final stages of granting Michelin in-principle clearance to establish a large project in the Chennai region. The State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu (SIPCOT) has set aside 290 acres of land for Michelin’s use, and the company is likely to begin construction work in February.
The unions representing workers involved in the PTL factory lockout in India are said to have bolstered their resolve following the breakdown of their second discussion with company management. According to India’s Express News Service, union leaders are accusing the Apollo Tyres supplier of changing their demands each time employees agree to the previous set.
“The workers have already agreed to the conditions put forward by the management for capacity utilisation in the wake of recession,” said Premier Tyres Employees Union president K N Raveendranath. “But, the management is behaving with certain ulterior motive and putting forward fresh set of demands every time.
Apollo Tyres, the sole recipient of products manufactured by PTL Enterprises, has expressed its hope that unions will work with management to save the jobs of more than 1,000 employees at the company’s Kalamassery factory. A list of 12 items management consider inherent for the survival of the factory were on the agenda at a January 7 meeting convened by the Kerala state labour minister, Mr P K Gurudasan. Of these 12 items, reports Apollo Tyres, unions agreed to consider only three. The remainder, they said, would be discussed only after the lockout is lifted. This has, says Apollo, left management “completely disheartened”, as it says previous lockouts have also taken this route without resolution to a single pending request taking place. All 12 items, says the Indian manufacturer, relate to better manufacturing practices and the need to expand and modernise for higher efficiencies. Company management has also appealed to the Kerala State Government to play a positive role, which it says will result in better industrial standards, more employment and even higher Government revenues.
A meeting held on January 7 to discuss the lockout at the PTL factory in Kalamassery, India, which exclusively supplies Apollo Tyres, has failed to find a viable means of ending the standoff between management and unions. Following the breakdown of talks trade union leaders allegedly decided to hold a meeting of their own the following day.
The lockout began on December 6, 2008, following what Apollo Tyres referred to as “negative and non-cooperative attitude of workmen”.
Al Rawas Auto LLC, part of the Oman-based ASB Group of Companies, has agreed to distribute Emrald branded industrial tyres in the region. The deal also sees the company take an equity stake in Emrald Resilient Tyre Manufacturers Pvt Ltd, the flagship company of the Emrald Group of Companies, India. According to local news reports, “both the groups want to expand significantly in this market of industrial tyres and want to establish the brand as a leader in this fastest growing Middle East market.”
As a result of the marketing joint venture the companies will open exclusive marketing offices in Dubai and Saudi Arabia in addition to the first one in Muscat in order to develop a “complete network of sales and service for catering to the requirements of this fast-growing market.”
Following the successful premiere event in 2007, the popular Asian region “Reifen China” exhibition was again held last December. Some 5,600 domestic and international visitors attended the Shanghai New International Expo Center (SNIEC) between December 4 and 6, 2008, to gain information on the latest products, technologies and services available within the Chinese and worldwide tyre industry. While the fair attracted some two hundred fewer visitors than the 5,800 recorded the previous year, this decline of 3.5 per cent must be viewed in light of the current economic situation, particularly within the tyre industry, and should therefore be interpreted as a very positive result. “Actually I don’t at all want to speak of it as a decline,” commented Klaus Reich, director Trade Fairs and Exhibitions for the show organiser, Messe Essen GmbH, to Tyres & Accessories. The result, he said, was in the economic circumstances, “absolutely good.”
Apollo has announced that 15 new tennis-playing youngsters will join the 21 children selected last year at the FIST Academy in Bangalore, taking the total number of Apollo Tyres tennis scholarships to 36. Mission 2018 represents the tyre manufacturer’s financial commitment to helping India gain a Grand Slam winner by the titular year.
Speaking on behalf of Apollo Tyres, Avik Chattopadhyay, head of Corporate Marketing and project leader for Apollo Tyres Mission 2018 said, “It’s been an amazing journey this year. We had six, seven and eight year olds participating in the selection camps from across the country. We also had participation from an NRI from Tanzania and few of them coming all the way from places like Imphal and Jorhat. This batch will further enrich the programme and Mission 2018’s prospect of bringing Grand Slam glory to India.” He added, “We have selected this time a tiny six-year-old girl from Ahmedabad who first picked up a tennis racquet when she was a little over one year old! This clearly shows the kind of passion for sport we have in India.”
The second year of short-listing for the Apollo Tyres’ “Mission 2018” tennis scheme concluded on the weekend of December 21-22 in Hyderabad, India, with the induction of 15 children from across the country. This number adds to last year’s 21 children who have been training over the past 12 months at the FIST Academy in Bangalore, taking the total number of Apollo Tyres tennis scholarships to 36.
A slowing demand for new vehicles in India has prompted led to OE tyre supplies from manufacturers based in the country to reduce by as much as 70 per cent. And the story is not much better in the aftermarket sector, reports the Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association (ATMA), who says that cheaper imported Chinese made tyres are also having an impact.
“While the slowdown in the automobile sector has impacted the OE business, cheap imports and large scale dumping of tyres from China has created havoc with the replacement segment, forcing the tyre industry to go for production cuts,” said R P Singhania, who is chairman of both JK Tyres and the ATMA. All major Indian and multinational tyre companies, including Apollo, Birla, Bridgestone, Ceat, Goodyear, JK Tyres and MRF, are proceeding with production cuts of varying intensity in view of slowing demand.
The tyre trade can be a ruthless business sometimes….Two Dunlop India managers have reportedly been beaten up by members of the INTUC employee’s union at the company’s Sahagunj factory. The Calcutta based Telegraph newspaper reports that, on the afternoon of December 17, the men were attacked following accusations of attempting to smuggle machinery out of the closed unit. One of the two was taken to hospital for observation.
Dubai’s direct tyre trade (both commercial and passenger car products) amounted to 4.15 billion UAE dirhams (£729 million, 773 million euros, US$1.13 billion) in 2007, according to the Gulf Daily News. Further growth is expected next year, the paper reported.
“Commercial tyres worth 1.1 billion (175 million, 186 million euros) dirhams for buses and lorries were imported to Dubai last year, mainly from Japan, China, and India,” said Automechanika Middle East senior show manager Michael Dehn, adding: “…Dubai consumes almost 64 per cent, re-exporting 36pc to Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Africa. The commercial vehicle market is an essential industry in the UAE and an increase of 35 per cent is expected from this year to 2012.”
Dunlop India is becoming something of a political hot potato in the run-up to the election in the Lok Sabha, the country’s house of representatives. With the support of West Bengal politician Mamata Banerjee, company chief managing director Pawan Ruia is reported by the Times of India to be perhaps placing political pressure on the West Bengal government to gain Dunlop India additional concessions of a nature normally reserved for ‘sick’ units; that is, companies that at the end of any financial year have accumulated losses equal to or exceeding their entire net worth. And the government, says the Times of India, is holding its tongue on political grounds.
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